Jared's Home

Jared came home on Sunday April 12th. We've been late in posting the news because of course it's been too crazy to sit at a computer for any length of time (twitter is superior to blogging in this regard - I've been tweeting progress reports the whole time). First couple days we're not bad and we thought we were heading toward having a good system. The last couple of days have been rough because the twins are constipated / gassy / refluxish and grunt or cry pretty much all night - chaos. Everyone is cranky - so if you call and we bark please excuse us :)

Blake is Home

Blake came home yesterday - wish I could say it was perfect, but Dylan woke up at 4:00am the night before and I had to hang out w/ him from 4-6:30am. I ended up catching a little bug. I've been sick 3 times in the 2 months the twins have been in the NICU!

Jen went to the NICU around 2pm and Dylan, Mrs. Chu and I followed soon after. Since I couldn't go into the NICU w/ my sickness Dylan and I went looking for ambulances - we ended up at the snack machine and I bought him some kettle corn. Next thing you know Mrs. Chu comes out and says there getting ready to bring Blake out. The double doors opened and out comes Jen in a wheelchair holding Blake in the bucket seat. Needless to say, we had an epic sleepless night w/ Blake not sleeping more than a 2 hour stretch. Beat down broken down to the very last compound... Uhh - we think he needs to adjust to the new environment and maybe misses his twin Jared. We called the NICU and they said that Jared had never slept better! More room to himself. Guess we know Jared is type A and Blake is type B. Stay tuned for the Jared's homecoming.

Best Picture Yet

Jen's Mom took this one - too cute.

Finish Line

We're getting close to bringing these boys home. I've been back to the NICU the last 2 days and the boys look a lot bigger than just a week ago. They're off the gavage and nippling all their feeds. Also they're "ad lib" feeding, basically feeding on their cue, instead of every three hours. It's almost been 2 months in the NICU - we plan to bring the nurses and doctors either Kara's cupcakes or pizza on discharge day. Very exciting.

More Time

This is going to be another quick update since I'm not going to the hospital tonight and need to use this time to catch up some sleep! Its Dave's turn to be sick so he's been out of commission with a flu since Friday. I'm trying to hold up the fort, take care of Dylan and the boys and somehow manage to take care of myself....

This week started off pretty well for the boys. Feeding was moving along and we were kind of on a roll at 4 out of 8 nipple feeds so the doc increased them to 6 out of 8 nipple feeds. But then they started to have consistent choking episodes along with their desats and general fatigue for several days. I think it was just a little too much for them. We want feeding to be a positive and pleasurable experience for everyone so today the doc reduced them back to 4 out of 8 nipple feeds. They just need more time to mature their suck/swallow/breathe coordination and pacing especially during letdowns.

Jared was given a blood transfusion (his 2nd in the NICU) on Friday night. He also got a dose of lasic for fluid retention today.

Both are having another eye exam tomorrow to check for ROP.
Blake weighed 4lbs, 11oz on Sat.
Jared weighed 4lbs, 8oz on Sat.

Blake's also been off the nasal canula for about 3-4 days now. Seems like this time its for good. This is the 4th try.

Storytime

Just got back from another late night at the hospital with the boys. They were both wide awake when I arrived and breastfed well but still had desats. Both are so hungry and suck well so sometimes they don't even stop themselves. I have to pull them off and stimulate them to remember to breathe.

Blake's taking 39cc and Jared's taking 37cc per feed.
Current weight is: Blake 4lbs, 5oz and Jared 4lbs.

They are both being given epigen (sp?) to increase the growth of red blood cells (shot MWF) and a diuretic (daily oral).

Our guesstimate discharge date is another 10 days? We'll see how far off we are or if we've guessed right! The docs and ourselves are taking their cues and watching them closely. They will let us know when they are ready. At the moment, they just need more time to coordinate suck, swallow and breathing with their feeds and are still weaning off the oxygen although the assistance is minimal at this point. In the meantime, we are getting their room ready and trying to tie up any other loose ends around the house. Lots of things to do and very little time!

Tonight just before I left, I had a short storytime session with them. I read 2 books Do You Love Me Mama and Going to Bed. Both guys were attentive and seemed to enjoy it. I gave them each a binky and wished them SWEET DREAMS. Good night Jared, good night Blake!

Back to the NICU

I've been going back to the NICU to see the kids again. My first day back was Saturday. Blake and Jared are in the open plastic cribs that you see typical newborns in. They have a lot less wires attached and their color seems better in general. They've been sleeping like angels...


Today the doctor said they may be coming home as soon as two weeks from now (i'm convinced it'll be more like 3wks)! Truth be told,we were a bit taken aback. Of course we're excited too, but the twins are tiny and are still getting half of their feeds through a tube. They seem so fragile...Jen and I both said "Can't we all stay here longer?". It's funny because that's how we both felt when we had Dylan - on the day we were discharged we asked, "Can we stay another day?". They laughed at us.

Today when Jen was feeding Blake, he had a desat episode. His blood oxygen level gets low because he forgets to breathe or he does shallow breathing. The alarm goes on and if the level gets in the low 80 / 70's you have to pull him off and rub his back and wake him up so he starts to breathe again. He also turns bluish. I finished his feed with the bottle and it happened again. It's not uncommon for preemies to desat, but it is unnerving to see your baby turn blue. Thankfully it doesn't happen too often. Jen just got back from the NICU this very moment and said the night feeds went great!


We should feel more confident and we will by the time they come home - we've taken care of a newborn before. But this will be different and require more attention, care and of course worry. The nurse said, "(when you take them home) these aren't babies you can feed while talking on the phone. You have to watch them, pay attention to make sure they're doing okay." Jen and I will have to refresh our CPR and learn the techniques for bottle feeding these little guys. Over the next few weeks we'll be in preemie care bootcamp! Exciting.

The nurses took some pix of the twins after their bath w/ their fuzzy hair dos. Enjoy.